Lester Holt

Lester Holt is an award-winning journalist and anchor of NBC Nightly News With Lester Holt, the network's flagship broadcast, and Dateline NBC. Holt also leads NBC News’ special reports, breaking news, and primetime political coverage.

Holt was named NBC Nightly News anchor in June 2015 after eight years as anchor of NBC Nightly News weekend editions and 12 years as co-anchor of Weekend TODAY. In addition, he has served as the principal anchor of Dateline NBC since September 2011.

Holt joined NBC News in 2000 and is known for his outstanding work in the field, reporting and anchoring breaking news events across the globe. This past August, Holt got rare access inside Iran during a critical time in the world, and earlier that month, he reported from El Paso, Texas, on the mass shootings there and in Dayton, Ohio.

As one of the leaders in reporting on the criminal justice system and the efforts to reform it, Holt launched “Justice for All,” which started as a Nightly News series this past year and evolved into a network-wide initiative. For the series, Holt was embedded for three days inside the largest maximum-security prison, Angola, and also anchored the first televised town hall from a maximum-security prison, at Sing Sing Correctional Facility.

In 2016, Holt was selected to moderate the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, which was the most-watched debate in American history. Holt also sat down with President Trump in 2017, which stands as the most consequential interview of his presidency.

Before becoming co-anchor of Weekend TODAY in 2003, Holt anchored Lester Holt Live on MSNBC and served as a primary anchor for MSNBC's coverage of major news events, including Operation Iraqi Freedom and the war in Afghanistan. He was also the lead daytime anchor for MSNBC's coverage of Decision 2000.

In 2018, Holt was awarded the Los Angeles Press Club’s Joseph M. Quinn Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Poynter Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Journalism, and the Sol Taishoff Award for Excellence in Journalism from the National Press Foundation. He was also named the most-trusted television news personality in America, according to a recent Hollywood Reporter/Morning Consult survey. This coming November, Holt will receive the 2019 Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism.